[Editorial] VZW's CEO Claims Heavy Internet Users Should Pay More Than Everyone Else

[B-Unit]

Hypothetical problem...

I am a very small cell provider. In fact I have one tower only. I have sold phone and internet service to 100 subscribers and all is well. The subscribers surf, email, make calls, and my tower can handle the load. I have 100 happy customers and a new car for me. : )

Now, along comes a video provider offering my subscribers cheap streaming media and 10 of the 100 start using it... alot. So much so that now my tower can't handle all the traffic at max speed anymore. I now have 100 unhappy customers because service has slowed for the light users and heavy users alike.

Do I

A: Put up a new tower at my expense, and potentially have to add more? This affects my wallet.
B: Put up a new tower and raise my rates for all customers, again with the potential to have to do it again? This hurts 100% of my customers.
C: Put up a new tower and raise my rates bigtime on heavy user customers, again with the potential to have to do it again? This affects 10% of my users.
D: Charge the streaming provider a fee for using my tower or threaten to throttle his access. This would only hurt 10% of my users.
E: Some combination of the above that allows me to maintain high speed service for all without cutting my profits.

F: Take some of the fat profits from the past 10 years and try to modernize the tower to the benefit of 100% of my customers, as well as enhancing my reputation and possibly bring in more customers.

Naa, that's crazy talk, who needs customers, all that matters is shareholder value.

 

[kinfolk248]

1) I hope everyone realizes that Vzw DID NOT earn their way to the top spot, they literally bought the marketshare...
2) Yes, Google Fiber is slowly but surely branching out and soon we (USA) will have internet like foreign countries... If you dont know what I mean do some research and see for yourself that in other countries, some of which are even 2nd world countries, internet is BOTH cheaper AND faster than the crap we get here...
3) Vzw is so stupid that they dont realize that once they lose a customer they you will NEVER get them back...
4) I remember Vzw saying rooting was such a evil thing and how it would bring down Skynet, oops I mean their network lmao
5) Tmo and Sprint are gonna merge...

 

[Hugh Jass]

I admit I didn't have time to read all the responses, but by the same logic as raising prices for the 10% to compensate their overages, the 90% should then also pay less for their minimal usage by comparison. You can't punish the masses for a small group's actions...they call that WAR against the public. Bad PR to say the least.

The free internet is quickly coming to it's demise it seems until quantum computing arrives along with better storage and server solutions (such as DNA) to save the internet from this "too expensive" argument. Quickly other companies will follow suit.

Hurry up Google Fiber.

 

[cereal killer]

That's the best argument I've heard yet Narsil. The ISPs want it both ways... they want to maximize their profits from users who don't use much, yet at the same time penalize users who use more, and use the building out of infrastructure as an excuse. Evolving the technology and their network is required if they want to stay competitive.

Cereal Killer made a great point too! If you are getting into the ISP business you should know ahead of time, that in order to grow your business you will have to continuously expand your network. It's just the "cost" of doing business.

Many ISPs already change their pricing structure over the years to make up these deficits. There is an ebb and flow to things. Sometimes they raise rates to build out infrastructure, and sometimes they offer competitive bundles to draw in more customers.

Ironically, in the long run, (although this makes for an interesting discussion), technology will render this completely moot. As massive bandwidth technology (like Google Fiber) continues to evolve and become affordable, the ISPs will eventually no longer be able to use "data usage volume" as an excuse. There will come a point when the bandwidth we consume won't even put a dent in the bandwidth which is available.

Yup..........and Lowell will be out of a job

 

[RETG]

[FONT=Titillium Web, tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif]"Should our state and/or local government charge heavy drivers more for using the roads more? The internet and the U.S. roadway/highway system are very similar in that they are designed to get important "traffic" from one place to another quickly. There are definitely folks out there who use the roads far more or far less than others. Should we charge the truck drivers and heavy commuters a premium price to use the roadways?"[/FONT]

[FONT=Titillium Web, tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif]Commercial truck drivers are charged more. Bad example.
Governments in many states are looking at the use of roads for future taxes due to better fuel mileage. Bad example.
And in most states, the more costlier the vehicle the higher the license plate fees. And weight is the only deciding factor in road damage from a perspective of a vehicle (weather and shoddy construction are big factors too).


[/FONT]

 

[rakumiazuri]

It's reasons like this that I think we just need a national ISP and cell service. Make it like the post office in that it must cover all the US.

 

[Caesars]

I suppose if they reduced my bill for using less I'd accept this hogwash.

Note 3 ~ 5s

 

[combatmedic870]

Some times people just need to be violently attacked and spartan kicked. This is one of those times.

 

[TatDroid]

Should our state and/or local government charge heavy drivers more for using the roads more?

I'm not sure I totally agree with your analogy. Most of the "charge" for using our roads is in the gasoline taxes (both federal and state) . So heavy drivers ARE paying more (except for the new issues that hybrid and electric cars are causing. But that's another issue, for another forum...)

If we paid our gasoline bill like we pay our phone or cable bill - once a month - should the people who just top off their tank pay the same as the person who gets 25 gallons? Or should we pay for how much gas we actually used that month?

 

[wagman67]

To me, it comes down to choice: as a consumer, I have a choice as to whether I want to take a company up on its offer...and any company can make a choice to change what it offers.

I chose the Verizon deal to have a phone and an unlimited data plan, back in the day. Currently, Verizon chooses to honor that plan and I choose to stay with it.

If Verizon chooses to no longer honor that plan, in the future, I will then have a choice to make.

I have a finite amount of money I can spend each day, week, month and year...and, unlike our government, apparently, I have to make choices where I spend that money.

I try my best to look at as many known factors (price, cap, coverage area, tethering abilities and allowances, contract terms, etc...) for each of the companies that are available to me. I then try to make the best informed decision (choice) I can for me and my family.

I can only hope that companies look to all of the factors available to them and come to an informed decision on the offerings they make.

In my current case, I use about 20-30GBs of data a month. If that is breaking Verizon's bank, it is their own fault for making me that offer. If they look at what I use as a drop in the bucket, then they have made a good choice and so have I.

 

[kodiak799]

Make it like the post office in that it must cover all the US.

Great idea! Not like the post office costs the taxpayer billions of dollars or anything like that.

 

[kinfolk248]

1) The post office? LMAOOOOOOO, you mean that underfunded system that doesnt always deliver on time, keeps having rate hikes, and has been in question of downsizing.... gtfu lol
2) The highway argument is mute also and heres why; we have public roads as well as privately owned toll roads and theoretically cell towers are toll roads but we dont have any control of them and to have a public tower, well here comes all types of confusion and chaos lol

 

[dgstorm]

I'm not sure I totally agree with your analogy. Most of the "charge" for using our roads is in the gasoline taxes (both federal and state) . So heavy drivers ARE paying more (except for the new issues that hybrid and electric cars are causing. But that's another issue, for another forum...)

If we paid our gasoline bill like we pay our phone or cable bill - once a month - should the people who just top off their tank pay the same as the person who gets 25 gallons? Or should we pay for how much gas we actually used that month?

I like your "out of the box thinking" and agree that my own comparison to roads is flawed; however, comparing the internet to gasoline is also flawed logic. Gasoline is a finite resource, whereas data consumption is infinite. This actually illustrates the "between the lines" point I was trying to make in my OG post: "it's a complex issue and we need to look at the internet differently."

Data consumption is the sharing of ideas. How can you actually put a value on that? Food for thought...

Also, as I mentioned in my reply post later on, eventually these arguments will be rendered moot by the continuing advance of technology as bandwidth will outpace our ability to consume data.

 

[swc2001]

Bottom line the world is changing at light speed. Everyone is using more and more data. More and more people are unplugging and going to streaming services ONLY. This is the way of the future! If you want to be a big boy provider you have to pull up your big boy pants and get with the times. You have to provide these services at a Reasonable cost for the average worker. This is something This Billionaire CEO does not understand. As is... I pay ≈ $2760.00 per year for Verizons "Service" This is about 4% of my yearly Salary Before Taxes!!!!! They better be providing me with TOP TOP TOP service and not whine and cry about it! If they ever pull my Unlimited Data!! Sprint here I come. I have excellent sprint coverage in my Texas Country area. There is a Sprint tower at the back of my land and.... It would cost me 60 dollars less a month = 720 a year!! So again they better play ball and not try to punish LOYAL customers who may actually USE what we were sold in the beginning but now they want soooo desperately to renig on because they see even MORE dollar signs. Don't be fooled their bandwidth is NOT hurting! Its all about potential Earnings to make them Richer!
Sorry Jspradling7.... I usually agree with you but IMO your way off on this one. They MUST keep up with the times.... Because 4% of my salary.... Thats alot of money to me!! Sincerely the Average American Worker!

 

[swc2001]

Ha one more thing.... I actually pay 5% of my actual take home pay... thats Half of what I give God! Does that make Verizon a Half God or DemiGod?
If you think about that.... its kinda ridiculous! sprint is lookin better to me all the time!